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Selected Works

Agriculture

Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in Economic History

The Influence Of London On Labor Markets In Southern England, 1830-1914, George R. Boyer Feb 2012

The Influence Of London On Labor Markets In Southern England, 1830-1914, George R. Boyer

George R. Boyer

[Excerpt] Historians have long acknowledged that London, because of its enormous size and rapidly growing demand for labor, acted as a powerful magnet for migrants from throughout southern England. However, while there is a large literature documenting the flow of migrants to London, there have been surprisingly few attempts to determine the consequences of this migration for southern labor markets. This article attempts to redress the imbalance in the literature by examining the influence of London on agricultural labor markets during the nineteenth century. In particular, the article examines the effect of distance from London on wage rates in southern …

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Comments On Geraghty, Márquez, And Vizcarra, George R. Boyer Jan 2012

Comments On Geraghty, Márquez, And Vizcarra, George R. Boyer

George R. Boyer

Professor Boyer reviews and comments upon the three dissertations that were finalists for the Alexander Gerschenkron Prize in 2002.

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The Economic Role Of The English Poor Law, 1780-1834, George R. Boyer Jan 2012

The Economic Role Of The English Poor Law, 1780-1834, George R. Boyer

George R. Boyer

[Excerpt] Over the 85-year period from 1748/50 to 1832/34, real per capita expenditures on poor relief increased at an average rate of approximately 1 percent per year. There were also important changes in the administration of relief with respect to able-bodied laborers during the period. Policies providing relief outside of workhouses to unemployed and under-employed able-bodied laborers became widespread during the 1770s and 1780s in the grain-producing South and East of England. The so-called Speenhamland system of outdoor relief flourished until 1834, when it was abolished by the Poor Law Amendment Act. The aim of the thesis is to provide …

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Impacts Of Sudan Macroeconomic Policy On Agriculture, Issam A.W. Mohamed Professor Jul 2011

Impacts Of Sudan Macroeconomic Policy On Agriculture, Issam A.W. Mohamed Professor

Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed

The crisis of Southern Sudan and eminent secession in 9 July 2011 is a nightmare to the Sudanese national economy. The dependence on oil revenue that controlled the country for the past 11 years and negligence of the other real economy's economic sectors, agriculture and industry severely threatens the country. That is not only with diminished returns but with also with economic nightmarish economic catastrophe, famine and internal implosion. Short-sightedness on utilizing the oil money that bubbled the economy atrophied the real economic sectors and disabled it from responding to secession consequences of parting with 75% of revenues from oil …

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Wto-Doha Multilateral Trade Negotiations And Agriculture, Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed Jul 2011

Wto-Doha Multilateral Trade Negotiations And Agriculture, Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed

Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed

The Doha Development Round or Doha Development Agenda (DDA) is the current trade-negotiation round of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which launched in November 2001. With the start of this round, non-trade concerns (NTCs) were explicitly renowned and integrated into the negotiation process. Generally, multi-functionality proponents attempt to resist agricultural trade liberalization by giving high support to protect their domestic producers. These are net food importing countries, some small countries with highly protected agricultural sector and large trade deficits in some main outputs and unfavourable agro-climatic conditions. The opponents of the multi-functionality argument all claim to recognize the legitimacy of …

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When Beef Was King. Or Why Do Colombians Eat So Little Pork?, Shawn Van Ausdal Mar 2008

When Beef Was King. Or Why Do Colombians Eat So Little Pork?, Shawn Van Ausdal

Shawn Van Ausdal

This article seeks to understand why Colombians, compared to many other Latin Americans, have traditionally eaten so much more beef than pork. The article first points to the development of a culinary tradition that favored beef. The bulk of the argument, though, centers on the fact that, historically, beef has been substantially cheaper than pork. This price difference, in turn, is rooted in the low productivity of Colombian agriculture, which made corn, often used to fatten hogs, expensive. Additional factors that favored beef include a receding agrarian frontier, a small hog population, the various advantages of cattle, a conflict–ridden history …

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The Prudent Village: Risk Pooling Institutions In Medieval English Agriculture, Gary Richardson May 2005

The Prudent Village: Risk Pooling Institutions In Medieval English Agriculture, Gary Richardson

Gary Richardson

The prudent peasant mitigated the risk of crop failures by scattering his arable land throughout his village, Deirdre McCloskey argued, because alternative risksharing institutions did not exist. But, alternatives did exist, this essay concludes. Medieval English peasants formed two types of farmers’ cooperatives. Fraternities protected members from the perils of everyday life. Customary poor laws redistributed resources towards villagers beset by bad luck. In both institutions, the expectation of reciprocation motivated farmers with surpluses to aid neighbors with shortages.

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